From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V7 #276 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Wednesday, November 16 2005 Volume 07 : Number 276 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [RS] RE: Last Fare [DrTobs@aol.com] [RS] last fare [Christy Thomas ] [RS] RE: It's All About the Eleusinians, baby [Jamie Younghans / John McD] [RS] last fare [Bernadette Marian ] [RS] last fare ["Norman Johnson" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 06:55:38 EST From: DrTobs@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] RE: Last Fare I have definitely heard Richard say on at least 2 occasions that the song takes place "a couple of days after 9/11." I think that since that horrific day, any songs that even mention New York and have a somber undertone, are linked to the events of that day. I also remember him mentioning the couples were not the same couple. Here's another slant on the first couple-maybe she just suffered a miscarriage? Really adding to the sadness felt in that cab. The cab driver is the connection between the two couples, kind of illustrating the extremes that he sees during the course of his day. I do love the song! Toby ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:52:52 -0800 (PST) From: Christy Thomas Subject: [RS] last fare not much time, but wanted to toss out my two cents...okay, maybe a cent and a half in this case. to me the this song has always been about the cab driver and the "flow" of his life...the couples aren't connected really - except that they are his "last fare" on two different days. seems to me they represent or illustrate how he's feeling at the time. i recently wondered if he looks for a last fare of the day purposefully - a particular type of last customer of the day depending on his mood. but that is mostly a random thought about how each of us approach our work/life differently depending on mood or what is going on for us personally... about the "rebirth" -- it never seemed to me to be about the rebirth of the city, but rather the rebirth of hope and grace...for the cab driver. i can feel him driving around in the aftermath and the days that follow - numb...having been knocked off balance as most of us were -- trying to continue living...but mostly going through the motions for a while. until, one day he drives to St Lukes for his last fare and there they are - and, for the cabbie, hope and grace are back. anyway, it seems to me to be a story about the cab driver's response to 9-11 and the days/months that followed. it does "ring true" to me in terms of universal themes. and after many listens i still have tears spring to my eyes when hope and grace are born...you may think that trite or "pat" or too sentimental - after 9-11 we needed hope and grace...and there have been other times in my life when i personally felt in need of them, but believed them to be gone for good. who knew i just needed to drive to st. luke's? :) is this richard's best song ever? i don't think so...but i do think it is a damn good song... and, i'd take richard's "worst" song over most others anyway... see - about a cent and a half's worth. christy ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:54:36 -0500 From: Jamie Younghans / John McDonnell Subject: [RS] RE: It's All About the Eleusinians, baby Hi all, Christy wrote: >>and, i'd take richard's "worst" song over most others anyway...<< I know my posts have been less than enthusiastic about this song (save the last one), and while I agree with Christy, it's not his worst song at all, nor is it my least favorite. I re-read my last post, and although somewhat facetious, I wonder if it's not fruitful to see the cab driver not as a literal cab driver, but as a deliverer of sorts--a hierophant perhaps, or, given the rain, as a sort of Noah, with whom God made a pact that all flesh would not be destroyed again. This may provide the basis for the hope, towards which he moves by the "graceful" ballet. In this sense, then he is not just moving through the city, so much as moving between despair and hope, as represented by the two couples, like Toby said. Is this an overly Christian interpretation--one that's somewhat exclusionary?? Since I suspect I have beaten this song to death, I will stop. Doug did have a question about SWCD. Any takers? John McD. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:57:45 -0500 From: Bernadette Marian Subject: [RS] last fare The one piece of the song I see absent from all this discussion about LFOTD is that so many cabbies in NY are non-native. It seems to me such a major and not so sublte aspect to the story line. I have always felt the strong possibility of the cabbie being from a Muslim country and how that wraps the somber tone of the song. His own emotions as well as the passengers blending the similarities of human beings during times of strife. That each feel the sense of personal loss and moving forward. Each their own way, yet in an alignment that seems unlikely yet possible. That is why I see the song as important from a cabbies point of view, instead of a shop owner or a stock broker. To me it is how the song plays on the juxtaposition from all angles. That is what I appreicate about it. Looking forward to Carnagie Hall....and a cab ride in the city.... Bernadette ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 22:32:24 -0500 From: "Norman Johnson" Subject: [RS] last fare Bernadette, >> have always felt the strong possibility of the cabbie being from a Muslim country and how that wraps the somber tone of the song.<< Lucy's 9-11 song "Land of the Living" has a Muslim (or at least Arab) cab driver. Norman ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V7 #276 ***********************************